car crash vs train wreck

car crash

noun
  • A mess or disaster, especially one that attracts a lot of attention. 

  • The collision of one or more cars 

train wreck

noun
  • A disaster, especially one which is large in scale and readily seen by public observers. 

  • The aftermath of a train crash. 

  • Someone (especially a woman) who is unbalanced and considered a mess, a disaster, one who is suffering personal ruin. 

verb
  • To ruin utterly and catastrophically, to cause to end in disaster. 

How often have the words car crash and train wreck occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )